AT THE EMIRATES WATCHING THE ARSENAL QUALIFY FOR THE CL QUARTER FINALS – MY RECOLLECTIONS by Ken 1945
I’ve read some great reviews and thoughts regarding our win over Porto the other night and thought I would try and convey how it felt to be there – so here goes :
Arrived at The Emirates and got into the ground at 6.00pm after travelling in on the underground from Cockfosters. There were already plenty of replica shirts and scarves on the train and outside the ground, along with many Porto fans who, for some reason, seemed to have gathered outside the Armoury shop.
I had my usual hot chocolate once inside, listening to a group playing “Saka and ESR” an upbeat rendition of “North London Forever” and the usual chants, including “What do you think of Tottenham?!”
I got to my seat at the Clock End about 6.30 and the Porto fans started to find their collective voices around 6.45 in a nearly empty stadium, that only really started to fill up with home fans until about 7.30pm and THEN the atmosphere began to hot up, with all our current songs and chants being enthusiastically sung out loud and proud!!
We then saw Fay White MBE introduced to the crowd, followed by Aaron Ramsey, who received a tremendous reception on his first visit back to The Emirates since he left for pastures new.
Both sets of fans were cracking up the noise, as we were treated to a dazzling light show, that seems to be the norm these days.
The North Bank, West Bank and the Clock End were waving flags, scarves and banners and it seemed like a sea of red and white everywhere I looked.
The rendering of *North London Forever ” was absolutely stunning – but I much prefer it being sung just before kick off, rather than, as in CL games, that anthem being played before kick off, but we have waited so long for these nights it didn’t matter, as kick off arrived and all hell broke loose!!
The Arsenal fans were in full voice… song after song, chant after chant and it never stopped, the atmosphere was just mind blowing in it’s intensity.
The Porto fans were adding to this insane situation with their consistent chants and we were subjected to the flares that opposing fans always seem to be able to smuggle in!!
We kept attacking them, as you all probably saw, but their defence was excellent, while their cynical time wasting and diving was something to behold – seemingly aided and abetted by the referee, who fell for every one of their tricks.
One thing I will say about the referee though, he was consistent in his awful decisions and to only add one minute extra to the first 45 minutes was a travesty.. but I digress!!
Our equaliser – and what a great goal it was!! I can still see it unfolding in slow motion today.
Once again, fans went completely berserk and it was pure hysteria combined with utter joy and relief.
We were level with a team that had conned the referee, used every trick in the book to hang on to their lead, but we had drawn level with a wonderfully worked goal – the second half would be a cakewalk – as they would have to attack now – was the verdict around me and I agreed, it would be a completely different game and the Arsenal players went off to a standing ovation.
It was different, but not as was expected – Porto came at us and we saw diving and play acting that would have blessed the Olympics and any West End theatre – aided and abetted, yet again, by a referee who would be a star within the PGMOL, he was that pathetic!!
Time flew by and then we all thought that Odegaard had put us in the lead, only to see the referee, for the first time in the match, penalise Havertz for shirt pulling!! How he missed the said shirt pulling every time we had a corner will forever remain a mystery.
. Then extra time became a reality and the thrashing we all thought would happen, started to become a nightmare of over confidence.
Sadly, many fans with children had to leave, in order to catch trains etc etc but the noise level seemed to increase even more!!
Came the penalties; and here I have to own up to being a coward, as I sat in my seat head in hands, waiting for the crowd to indicate the outcome of each of said penalties… until Porto’s last one, where I was able to watch and explode with delight as Raya saved it and pandemonium broke out everywhere!!
Bliss, absolute bliss, is the only way I can describe it to you, but I’m sure you all felt the same wherever you watched it from.
I know how lucky I am to have my season ticket, especially when I was told that there is still a waiting list of over 90,000!! and that’s why I’ve tried to convey the evening at the Emirates to you all.
As a footnote, I read these figures online regarding what being in the CL means fir the club financially :
Due to the club being 14th in the CL rankings (thanks Arsene!!) we will get a minimum sum of £22.74 million, along with a estimated £63.73 million in TV rights this season and, again to date, another £256.6 million in prize money, gate receipts etc etc PLUS further world wide access promoting the club itself via the CL popularity.
Hope you enjoyed the article.
ken1945
A fantastic read Ken1945.
You just brought your experience to life with this beautiful recap.
Wish i was in the stands, but it was still electric watching from home.
And we just got Bayern in the quarters.
What do you think?
Thanks for sharing your privileged experience with us. I totally enjoyed it.
I’ve been looking forward to it since that night, refreshing the Just Arsenal page almost on an hourly basis 😂🤣
On to Bayern now.
Thanks a million Ken for the bird eye view and ball by ball events of how things unfolds and what’s it like on European nights under the light.
Yes the referee was very consistent though he allowed the game to get out of control
The images on TV confirm the atmosphere and am thankful again for sharing your experiences
Am not familiar with Fay White though, asume she’s part of the football fraternity
Gunsmoke, she’s our former women’s captain. Also captained the Lionesses for a long time and is one of the gunners women most decorated players.
A true legend of the women’s game.
👍🏻👍🏻
Glad you both liked the article, the passion felt that night is hard to describe.
As for Bayern Munich, that was the draw I wanted, both for personal and club reasons.
I don’t think I could have endured another “dark arts” team trying to con us out of a win!!
I really think we can beat them, but need to take a healthy lead to the second leg.
Also think we will face RM rather than MC, but that’s just my opinion of course.
Loved reading your review Ken
It is a privilege to be able to go to the games – so many support from afar and may never get to see the Arsenal play at the Emirates
For those of us who either have a season ticket or can get hold of tickets from time to time, there is nothing like the anticipation and the roar of the crowd when the team comes out. The camaraderie between the supporters can be so funny and it’s exhilarating!
I can also own up to hiding my face behind a cushion when the penalties were being taken or peeping through tiny gaps in my fingers. Not remotely cowardly 😊
I enjoyed reading that.
Thank you
Excellent piece KEN. Written with a true journos love of words too. You set that Emirates scene beautifully well.
Thanks SueP and Jon – looking forward to the Bayern game next 👍👍
Great read Ken, enjoyed it.
Excellent read Ken, even made better by how much the fans are enjoying being at the Emirates. All thanks to Arteta. Seeing fans supporting each and every player wearing that jersey makes me more proud being a Gunner. Long may it continue
Scot and Kenya001 – thanks for the replies, hope it brought you closer to the club on match day